Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2011 10:01:58 -0400
From: Michael Tucker
Subject: Adding jobs in Chatham County and an internet cafe
The phrase “internet cafe” does not always mean online gambling. A Google search also turns up coffee shops and salons much like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels frequented while they cooked up their unique views who should rule the economy, individuals, and “the community at-large”. Such references ALWAYS begin faked rage but let me continue my point.
Anyone may voice their individually-held opinion but one must also own the consequences. Individuals (like Adam Feher) and/or groups (“Fellow Pittsboroians) who seek to force lawful property owners (like the proposed owners of the “internet cafe”) make doing business and adding jobs in Chatham County MUCH more difficult than it already is.
There are hundreds of rules, regulations, laws, ordinances, etc. ad nauseam. There are many efforts I personally would not wish to see here and there but let’s be careful where and when we choose our battles. The existing rules, regulations, laws, ordinances already make it more desirable to go other places more “business-friendly”.
SOOOO many individuals object to online gambling, tobacco, alcohol, McDonalds, WalMarts, grocery stores, waste sites, and on and on. What’s your favorite “Not-In-My-Back-Yard” (NIMBY) “cause”? What will “offend” you? I think Shakori Hills should discourage illegal drugs in front of children but, guess what? I don’t attend Shakori Hills events. I think certain TV shows should not be shown to children but guess what? I am not going to ask my neighbors to restrict what TV YOU get to see. I will not ask my neighbors to join me in the effort to stop certain kinds of musicians from coming to Chatham County simply because I don’t like their style.
People do not seek to open a business to “benefit the community”. That’s a good result. That will NOT keep a business open. A business opens when a PROPERTY OWNER expects to turn that HUGE investment into an operation that generates a greater return than a Money Market Fund. That would be AFTER paying employees, expenses, taxes, fees, permits, lawyers, accountants, utilities, and more. That would be AFTER persuading a tough public to buy the offered goods/services at acceptable prices.
If an “internet cafe” is so objectionable (though legal and rule/regulation compliant), then it will fail due to poor judgement on the property owner’s part for mistaking his/her market/public/potential customer base. How many places that are open in downtown Pittsboro are never entered by nearby residents? An entire community suffers when the economy suffers. Making business suffer will not make any individual’s life better.
We (Americans) are ALREADY on the “slippery slope” of being WAY TOO restrictive of individual rights and the use of private property. I believe this is deliberate by some and accidental by most. I am replying to Adam Feher’s post because I believe too many who know better and believe differently have NOT spoken up / replied in kind.
A POSITIVE solution would be for objectors to an “internet cafe” make a better offer on that PRIVATE PROPERTY and open a “better” business instead.
For those who will not improve the economy by investing themselves, but want “better” on “behalf” of “the community”, bring your friends to the “internet cafe” and raise the “spiritual atmosphere” with YOUR business so the owner(s) cater to you rather than “undesirable” customers. Everyone wins.